Anthropic announced Claude Code Mods on October 1, 2026, and said they were available in the CLI and the desktop app’s Code tab. The JavaScript or TypeScript event handlers are packaged inside plugins and can change supported behavior and interface elements. Mods require Claude Code 2.1.287 or later and are enabled by default in those versions.
What Claude Code Mods can change
A mod can observe, rewrite, answer, or wrap supported events, including submitted prompts, tool calls, and session events. It can also add commands and tools, draw interface elements such as panes and buttons, or alter and replace supported parts of the interface. Mods cannot change the permission prompt.
A plugin is the container that distributes a mod; it can also include other extensions. Settings hooks run configured actions such as shell commands or HTTP requests, skills provide reusable instructions, and MCP servers provide tools through an external process or service. Mods differ by running their event-handler code inside Claude Code and supporting custom interface elements.
Anthropic says Mods work in the terminal and in the desktop app’s Code tab. Plugins are unavailable in desktop Code tab sessions running through WSL. Hooks can also run in the VS Code chat panel, claude -p, the Agent SDK, and cloud sessions that load the plugin, but custom interface elements are not drawn in those environments.
Mods run with the user’s permissions
Mods are not sandboxed as a security boundary. They run with the installing user’s permissions, which can give them access to files and settings available to that user, environment variables, processes, network requests, and session activity. A mod can also approve tool calls or use the user’s plan or API key.
Before running a mod, claude plugin validate lists the events it handles and the calls it requests without executing it. Anthropic also documents controls to disable or uninstall an individual mod, disable installed mods for one session with --safe-mode, or disable user-installed mods across sessions with disableAllHooks. Organization administrators can restrict which mods load.
Custom interfaces in practice
Anthropic’s Token Weather example displays context-window use and recent-turn information. Its guide illustrates readings of 18%, 67%, and 81% against a 200,000-token context window. Those figures are example readings from Token Weather.
Custom panels can put workflow choices or status information directly into a Claude Code session.
